It is summer time and the kids are out of school. I am always looking for things to do with my son and to keep him not only busy but safe. I join local free programs. The best place to find free or low cost activities, that are done in a safe environment and that are also educational. This place is your local library.

Our library offers a reading program. Each week the kids take the reading log get some small prices for their reading and they have a different show such as puppets or magicians.

However as great as the library is, it only offers a few hours and the prices are not that appealing to my son. So I have been looking online for programs available and I have a list to share with all of you:

1. The scholastic summer challenge We did the challenge last year. It is a great program because the website allows the child to log in the minutes to beat the world record of reading. It is available in Spanish known as the Reto para el verano

2. Barnes and Noble summer reading Imagination’s Destinations We love this program because after completing the reading log that you can download here Reading Journal (PDF) kids can choose from a selection of free books. There are books available in Spanish as well.

3. BOOK IT! Summer reading challenge My son loves this program. During the school year they offer pizzas as rewards but for summer they have a giveaway that runs from June 15th to August 15th and kids that read at least 5 books and send the reading log are eligible to enter to win a “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” package. It is also available in Spanish

4. Check your local library for more resources and enjoy a summer full of reading!!!

In the future I will be posting about the reading programs available during the school year, so you can keep your kids motivated.

This was a better week. Finally we are getting better. It was my birthday and being good with food was not easy. The invitations out for lunch, dinner, the cake. It is hard to be good with all those temptations. It is really hard.

The week was busy but the weekend is perfect. We needed a long weekend to enjoy quality time with my son. I want to share with him more than the homework and usual. It was a mom/son weekend and all activities were thinking about him. We went to the movies, we also had some fun shopping for books and shoes for him, bike rides and visit to the museum to see the butterflies alive and dinosaur bones.

With a busy weekend with kid, I moved more than usual. Really good for me. Besides the elliptical we also walked a lot and had the bike ride. We also ate healthier with a lot of fruits and veggies.

My goals for this week is to keep moving. I am looking forward for the next 2weekchallenge to keep me more active. I guess that I need to report to someone what I am doing so I do not slack on it.

I am also packing lunch to work. It is easy to eat not that healthy when eating out and it gets expensive. I had stopped drinking soda and I went back to my diet coke. Trying to be with more sparkling water instead. I just get stressed out and rather have a diet coke than a piece of bread. One day, one day I will be able to leave my vice, to stop drinking soda. One day!

Last week I was invited to a tweet-up event the the Stone Fire Grill Restaurant located at Fountain Valley, California. I live in Ventura County, so the drive to get to the restaurant was long and with the traffic in Southern California at 4:30 pm it was even worst. But I can tell you that after being able to taste the food everything was worth it.

I went with my dear Colombian friend @comiendoenla and we had a lot of fun. @comiendoenla was convinced we were heading to the location at Pasadena, and after 40 minutes of driving from Glendale, she was wondering where was I taking her. We finally got to @Stonefiregrill

The place is cozy and people are very friendly. The tweet-up was located at the Patio next to the beautiful fireplace. Food was well presented and there was also a table for drinks.

The menu was really good. It was a taste of their best dishes. @Stonefiregrill offers a variety of foods both for meat lovers and also for vegetarians.

We got some pizza as well. The Mesquite Grilled Pizza was so good I wanted to have another slice, but with all the other food still on my plate I just resisted. The Tomato Basil Pizza was a good option for those that are vegetarians. Great pizza. I really loved that the sauce was not heavy and it was not greasy.

And of course you cannot go to a Grill restaurant without having some meat. @Stonefiregrill had Lemon Garlic Chicken Breast and Mesquite BBQ Tri Tip. Both tasted really good. I can only imagine how good their Salmon is.

And to end the wonderful night we had some dessert. Carrot Cake and Cheescake with blueberries. Both were great but being a cheescake lover, I have to say that was my favorite.

Since I found out that @Stonefiregrill has several locations in Southern California, and they even have one in Thousand Oaks (just 20 min drive from home) I will be visiting them soon, because their food is great and the place is great for a family dinner. As a side note, I got to meet very nice Tweet people and enjoy good conversation.

Disclosure: I was provided with free food at the Tweet-up but all opinions are mine.